Baltimore bridge crash was 'every ship crew's worst nightmare': Maritime expert

(TND) — A maritime expert is shedding light on what likely happened aboard the massive cargo ship that collided with a Baltimore bridge early Tuesday morning.

“This was every ship crew’s worst nightmare,” Capt. Allan Post said Wednesday.

Post worked on small coastal cruise ships and inland tug-and-barge ships before moving into the training world about 15 years ago. He’s now deputy superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy.

Six construction workers who were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge are missing and presumed dead after the nearly 1,000-foot-long cargo ship plowed into a support column, sending the bridge into the Patapsco River.

A pilot aboard the ship sent a mayday call before the crash, giving police enough time to stop traffic with just seconds to spare.

Post said the cargo ship’s problems couldn’t have happened in a worse location, though he’s grateful the tragedy didn’t take place in the middle of the day.

“They would have never been able to clear it in time,” he said.

The cargo ship, called the Dali, is operated by Synergy Marine Group out of Singapore and was destined for Sri Lanka.

Post said the ship had a total displacement weight of about 150,000 tons and was a pretty typical size for a modern transoceanic cargo vessel.

The bridge support “was never going to stand a chance,” he said.

Shipping companies will bring on local expert pilots to help them safely navigate in and out of ports.

That happened in this case, with two local pilots reportedly aboard.

“They are highly trained and experienced,” Post said. “You don't get to become a pilot just by taking a correspondence course. Usually, they've had a minimum of 10 years of experience plus a long apprenticeship program in the area with the association that they're joining.”

Local pilots would have stayed on the ship until it was out at sea and clear of local navigation dangers.

Multiple local pilots may have even been called on to help the ship’s regular crew.

Federal and state law requires shippers to take on local pilots when they’re in areas of restricted maneuverability.

“There may have been additional pilots that come on board at the same time that have further specific knowledge, because you would have to transit Chesapeake Bay and then through Hampton Roads and out into sea,” Post said. “So, there are many places that you have multiple pilots with specific knowledge of specific sections of the route.”

The ship’s captain is ultimately responsible for the movement of the vessel, and he or she can override the advisory pilots at any time, Post said.

But such teamwork is as “old as seagoing commerce,” he said.

Centuries ago, it would’ve been local fishermen hired to come aboard and help captains guide their ships out to sea, he explained.

The Dali probably had around 30 crew members.

The mayday call came from one of the local pilots.

Post said something went wrong with the ship’s mechanical or electrical systems before the crash. The captain apparently could no longer maneuver the vessel.

“The analogy would be if your steering and your brakes went out” when driving your car, Post said.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Wednesday morning that investigators have pulled the Dali’s voyage data recorder that will help them piece together the timeline of what happened.

She told CBS News that the multimodal investigation will “take some time.”

“We look at everything,” Homendy said. “The NTSB conducts a very thorough, comprehensive, holistic investigation. Everything from maintenance to even fire-rescue operations, but we'll look at how the U.S. Coast Guard and others regulate operations and to see if there are any deficiencies.”

Post said he expects a preliminary report out relatively quickly.

“It will be readily apparent what happened very quickly,” he said. “Now, how it happened, that might take a little bit of time.”

It’s been 44 years since an incident on this scale has happened, Post said.

Though some incidents since then have resulted in more casualties, Post said this collision reminds him of the 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge crash in Tampa Bay.

A 609-foot freighter sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, dropping a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour, according to The Associated Press.

Multiple vehicles, including a bus, fell 150 feet into the water, and 35 people died.